1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a charging apparatus for introducing granular solid materials into a reactor, such as, introduction of raw batch material into a glass melter. More particularly, this invention relates to a modular charging apparatus for introducing granular solid materials into a reactor, which charging apparatus, due to its modularity, can be adapted to fit a wide range of reactor openings through which the granular solid materials are charged into the reactor.
2. Description of Prior Art
Batch chargers for feeding raw batch material to glass furnaces are well known as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,983,206 which teaches a batch charger having a charger plate supported on an array of sets of rollers, each set of rollers including a front and a rear roller mounted to a roller frame and each roller frame for each set of rollers having a jack positioned beneath its front and rear portions for independently raising and lowering the front and rear ends of the charger plate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,158,412 teaches a solids charger having a reciprocable charger plate reciprocably mounted in fixed angular relation to a charger plate support with reciprocating drive means fixedly mounted to the charger plate support and connected by an adjustable connecting rod to the rear end of the reciprocable charger plate, the connecting rod reciprocating generally parallel to the plane of the charger plate. A plurality of jacks connected at their one end to the main support frame and at their opposite end to the charger plate support with front jacks beneath and pivotably connected to a front region of the charger plate support and rear jacks beneath and pivotably connected to a rear region of the charger plate support are provided for independently raising and lowering the front and rear ends of the charger plate.
In accordance with the teachings of both of the above cited U.S. patents, the disclosed granular solids chargers are mounted on the floor, or on a support on the floor, in front of the opening through which the granular solid material is introduced into the reactor and feed the granular solid material over the blocks of the reactor wall forming the opening in the reactor. In glass melters, the batch chargers are disposed in front of the doghouse of the glass melter and feed raw batch material over the doghouse blocks into the glass melter.
One disadvantage of known solids chargers is their general lack of adaptability to a wide range of charger openings. That is, known solids chargers are typically designed and constructed to correspond to a given solids charging opening in a reactor wall. As a result, changes in charger opening dimensions require the installation of an entirely new solids charger.